El_Tea

I'm here for some advice from people who know the reality of psych nursing. I'm trying to figure out whether pursuing a PMHNP would be right for me. If you'll bear with me, I'm just going to info dump so you understand where I'm coming from. I'm interested in counseling people, primarily; this is a role I've taken on instinctively throughout my life. I feel most capable and useful when I'm helping people overcome their hurdles, and I wish I could spend more time making others' lives better, instead of sitting behind a computer all day. I was looking into school counseling, initially, but in my area, that would mean a pay cut after graduating, AND tenuous career prospects. Right now, I'm weighing my options between an advanced psychology degree and retraining for psychiatric nursing. Nursing has the advantage of a stronger job market, and the promise of offering a patient therapy and medication from the same source (depression runs in my family, and I can't tell you how huge of a difference this can make in terms of quality of care). My hesitation is that my interest in people below the neck is pretty limited. I don't want to be on a hospital floor, and after clinicals, ideally, I'd never see an open wound again. That being said, I've got a strong academic history (undergraduate GPA of 3.75, consistent As in science), an interest in neurology, and I believe I could do well in nursing school if there was a career I'd enjoy at the end of the tunnel. For those of you who've already been through the hoops - do I have a realistic view of the job? My end goal would be to spend most of my time in one-on-one sessions with patients, likely as part of a private practice team. My instinct is that it's crazy to enter nursing school not wanting to be a "traditional" nurse, but I've seen NPs working in this type of setting before.